The U.S. National Mussel Watch Program initially used split‐sample analyses for interlaboratory quality control purposes. These indicated the possibility of interlaboratory analytical discrepancies as well as problems in the split‐sample technique itself. For the third year of the program, two mussel homogenates were produced to serve as intercomparison samples — one for metals and organics, the other for radionuclides. The results obtained using these homogenates are encouraging in that generally good agreement is seen among analyses done by several labs in diverse pollutant classes. We conclude from this experience that a quality‐control program relying on the analysis of large homogeneous samples of the matrix being dealt with is an essential part of any extensive, multilaboratory analytical program.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.